Two years ago, The Greens scored almost half the vote in the Leichhardt council elections and I was elected Mayor.
The team of 6 Greens councillors including myself as Mayor went on to build an unprecedented amount of local infrastructure, from parks and childcare centres to roads and buildings run on clean energy.
Now I’m running for state parliament. If my local Greens team can make so many real changes at a local level, imagine what I can achieve from within state parliament working in collaboration with our Greens councillors for Leichhardt, Ashfield and City of Sydney.
If I was privileged enough to be elected to NSW Parliament I wouldn’t continue as Mayor of Leichhardt but I would maintain my role as councillor because the council term ends in September 2012. I wouldn’t leave early because that would trigger a by-election which is very expensive and pointless.
A lot of people have contacted me to say i’m not going to vote for you in NSW Parliment if you’re not going to be Mayor of Leichhardt .. because we don’t want to lose you as a Mayor.
Honestly in my view it’s not possible to do both jobs in this area, Clover Moore in the City of Sydney has a different situation.
The text above is a transcript of the question “Will You Continue As Mayor If Elected to NSW Parliament?” which I was asked at the recent Leichhardt Chamber of Commerce-Meet The Candidates NSW Election 2011 event. My response on video is below:
